The Olympics must ban Iran
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United World Wrestling (UWW) — the global governing body for amateur wrestling—squandered a chance to save the life of Navid Afkari, the Iranian champion put to death in September on fraudulent charges by the regime in Tehran.
“There is not one shred of evidence in this damned case that shows I’m guilty,” Afkari, 27, said shortly before his execution, but the regime’s hanging judges “are looking for a neck for their rope.”
The IOC and UWW failed to speak out when they could have saved Afkari’s life by warning the regime that murdering its own athletes would make it a pariah, unwelcome at the Olympics and other world championship competitions. To provide a measure of justice for Afkari and repair their own tattered reputations, the two organizations must now banish Iran’s regime from international sports competition.
The regime refuses to even grant Navid and his family a semblance of peace after his hanging. Thursday, security forces destroyed Navid’s grave and detained his father Hossein and his brother Hamid for preparing the site for a tombstone. Navid’s sister published a photograph of his desecrated grave and wrote on Instagram: “You can threaten, destroy, or arrest, what are you going to do with Navid’s name and memory in people’s hearts?”
A Greco-Roman wrestler, Afkari and his brothers Vahid and Habib protested against the regime’s deep-seated economic and political corruption during nationwide demonstrations in 2018. All three brothers were tortured in connection with the invented crime of killing a security officer. Vahid and Habib continue to be held incommunicado.
Navid Afkari won fame in the city of Shiraz in Fars province for achievements which included winning a bronze medal in the Armed Forces Greco-Roman wrestling tournament. In Iran, the sport has a popularity and prestige comparable to basketball, baseball and football here in the United States. The in-ring artistry of the country’s greatest wrestlers has made them into Michelangelos of the sport. Thus, Afkari’s hanging made him into a national icon.
Afkari’s death also recalls the 1981 execution of Houshang Montazer Al-Mahdi, a gold medal-winner in Iran’s national wrestling championship, for alleged membership in an opposition group.
Even as the IOC and UWW went silent, wrestlers and martial artists launched a grassroots campaign to save Afkari. Popular and decorated wrestlers across the globe, from Germany to Canada to the United States, posted messages and videos on social media urging the regime to cancel the hanging.
The wrestling world was in upheaval at the grassroots level, but neither the IOC nor the UWW could muster the backbone to declare, loudly and publicly, that Afkari’s life must be spared. Then, after the regime did the dastardly deed, the IOC said it was “shocked” and noted that IOC President Thomas Bach had appealed by letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani for “mercy for Navid Afkari.” The UWW issued a self-absorbed statement about its “behind the scene work” with the IOC.
Neither seemed to understand that the Tehran regime can easily ignore quiet appeals; what it fears is public shame.
It is not too late for consequences. Yet the first IOC executive committee meeting after Afkari’s hanging did not even include the case on its agenda. An IOC spokesman declined to comment on the omission.
There is ample precedent for punishing regimes that violate their athletes’ human rights of athletes. The IOC banned South Africa’s now-defunct apartheid regime from the Olympics. In 1999, it banished Taliban-controlled Afghanistan from Olympic competition. In 2019, the IOC, Paralympics and FIFA prohibited Russia from participating in their events due to violations of anti-doping rules. While non-doping athletes are allowed to participate under a neutral flag, the Russian flag and anthem are banned at the events.
The IOC charter declares, “The practice of sport is a human right,” and prohibits discrimination based on “political or other opinion.”
Seeking justice for Afkari may also help spare the life of other Iranian athletes — such as disabled bodybuilder Reza Tabrizi, who may face execution for asking why gyms have been closed during the COVID pandemic while religious shrines remain open.
Public pressure matters. The clerical regime put a stay on the execution of three men who took part in protests against rising fuel prices last year after a social media campaign with the Persian hashtag #do_not_execute was used millions of times online.
The Tokyo Summer Games are now less than eight months away. The IOC should make clear the 2020 Olympics have no place for regimes that kill their own competitors.
Vaziri, the wrestler known as the Iron Sheik, was a member of Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1968 Olympics. Weinthal is a fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and NYU’s first All-American wrestler. Nader is a senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.